


Take Me Down (To Paradise)

by TheDruidIsIn



Category: One Piece
Genre: (eventually anyway) - Freeform, Alternate Marineford Events, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, In my mind Ace Lives okay, M/M, Marineford? I don't know her, Multi, Portgas D. Ace Lives, Pre-Marineford Arc, Prequel, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate Tattoos, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, There be poly here, this fic isn't out to hurt you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:41:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27139532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDruidIsIn/pseuds/TheDruidIsIn
Summary: A fluff piece that could turn into more, this is set during Ace’s time with the Whitebeard pirates. Soulmate AU with Soulmate Identifying Marks/Tattoos wherein Ace finds his soulmate (well, one of them, anyway) completely by accident while he, Marco, and Thatch are out drinking and having a meal.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Original Character(s), Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace, Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace/Original Character(s), Portgas D. Ace/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspired by lyrics form "The Heat" by The Score. Not sure if this will only be a series of drabbles with time skips or if there will be one continuous narrative but there's a lot of potential for it to be more.

The short woman with a mane of riotous black curls slipped in between the two men, smiling cheerily at them as she reached for the sake being passed around. “So, long time no see, cousin,” she said rather more loudly than strictly necessary.

Ace, who’d fallen asleep next to his plate and was only just waking up at the moment didn’t react immediately. Marco, who had been talking quietly with Thatch, gave her a confused look. “Huh?”

“Oh come on,” she said, darting her violet eyes toward a rather shifty looking man who lurked near the doorway never taking his eyes off of her. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me.”

She could see the moment things clicked for Marco in his mind. “Oh, yeah, little cuz, good to see you!”

The man by the door swore quietly and ducked outside. As soon as he had, she relaxed. “Thanks,” she whispered, taking a quick swig of sake. “That creepy asshole’s been following me all night long.”

Ace straightened up then, staring down at the woman sitting between him and Marco on the bench with thinly veiled curiosity. He slurred slightly, words thick with sleep, “He’s been following you?”

“Mhm.” 

Marco swished his drink around in his cup. “And what makes you think we aren’t creeps too?”

The woman shrugged. “You didn’t read that way.”

His eyebrows rose. “We didn’t read that way?”

She nodded, snagging a spare pair of chopsticks lying nearby and helping herself to Ace’s half-finished bowl of udon, much to his chagrin and Thatch’s quiet amusement. She lowered her voice as she explained. “One of my abilities—well, and street smarts.” 

Ace eyed her appraisingly, pulling his precious udon away from her reach. “You don’t look much like you could tell a grifter from an honest face.”

She turned to him with a cheeky grin. “Why, because I walked up to three pirates and sat with them?”

Thatch, who’d been drinking, choked. Marco beat him vigorously across the back. 

Ace smirked, picking up his chopsticks from where they’d fallen. “This is the one time I’ll take back what I said.”

Marco coughed in a way that might have hidden a laugh. “That’s a first,” he muttered neutrally, earning a half-hearted glare and a jab with an elbow from Ace. 

The woman snickered at their antics. “You three are funny. What are your names?”

The three exchanged a glance, studying the small, tawny-hued woman as she continued to steal from their plates, her booted feet kicking underneath the table and a content hum in her throat. The other two inclined their heads, solidifying his decision to tell her the truth—or part of it, anyway. 

“I’m Ace, and these two are Marco and Thatch.”

The woman looked at each of them in turn to acknowledge them. “My fool of a mother named me Nymphadora, but anyone with a sense of decency calls me Nym.”

Thatch seemed bemused. “Nymphadora? That’s—youch!” He glowered, having been kicked by her. 

“Nym,” she insisted. 

Marco had a glint in his eye. “You wouldn’t happen to be one of those Swans, would you?” 

Ace looked at him sharply as Nym paused. “Swans?”

“Yeah. It’s a pretty large, old clan known to have enormous haki reserves. They all have purple eyes and black hair and also tend to name their kids after stars—Orion, Cassiopeia, things like that.”

Nym’s nose wrinkled, her movement stilling. She made no move to deny anything Marco had just said. Instead, she cast her eyes nervously about her and scooted closer to Ace of all people, feeling inexplicably safe near him. “And what about my name screams ‘Swan’ when it’s not remotely related to the stars?”

He laughed. “Are you kidding? Hair as black as night? Purple eyes? Haki so sensitive you can read a complete stranger’s intentions? I’m surprised no one else clocked you.”

That seemed to ruffle her feathers. She sniffed, decisively stealing more of Ace’s udon even as he continued eating from the bowl. “I don’t recall asking you.”

“Hey, get your own,” Ace protested, wrapping his fingers around her wrist and trying to push her hand away. 

They both gasped when the contact caused their wrists to burn. Ace stared down at the once dormant soul-mark on his inner wrist, now a small fairy-winged violet in the midst of a sunburst. Nym stared down at an Ace of Spades card wreathed in flames. They looked up slowly, their eyes meeting as Marco and Thatch cottoned on to what happened. 

“Holy shit.”

“Fuck.”

Ace and Nym blinked at each other, each in complete and total shock. Eventually, Ace broke the silence. “Never thought I’d find my other soulmate.” He didn’t mention that he’d always thought he’d never deserve to find either of them, let alone both, and that it had been the surprise of his life when Marco’s phoenix wreathed in blue flames had shown up on his other wrist. 

Violet eyes wide, Nym’s lips parted. She licked her dry lips and replied with the only words that came to mind. “I guess you won’t mind if I tag along with you, then?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ace gets to punch someone and the group returns to the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small trigger warning for a brief mention of sexual assault in conversation, nothing shown either explicitly or otherwise.

_Violet eyes wide, Nym’s lips parted. She licked her dry lips and replied with the only words that came to mind. “I guess you won’t mind if I tag along with you, then?”_

_…_

  
  


“Tag along with us?” 

Ace cringed inwardly. He could have hit himself when the only thing he could do was echo Nym’s words back to her. Then again, he felt numb. Somehow he’d found his second soulmate getting noodles and sake at a pub during a night at port. A soulmate who seemed to be in a bit of a bind, considering the reason that brought her to their table in the first place. Whoever that shady-ass stalker was, her sitting down between him and Marco had been enough to send him scurrying. The sudden surge of protectiveness he felt startled him, at once both familiar and foreign. He’d felt similar instincts with Marco, even when they’d only first gotten to know each other. 

“Yes, tag along with you, ya know? Leave town together?” Seeing as they’d just been revealed as soulmates, he grudgingly gave her the rest of his udon, motioning at the nearest family member of the pub owner to bring two more bowls. Judging by how she wolfed down the rest of his cooling portion, she’d need more as much as he did. 

“What, just like that? You don’t have a life here? What about your family?” As irrational as it made him feel, the longer he looked at her the more he wanted to touch her, if only to see if she were real. When Marco’s mark had revealed itself on his arm as the man held a dish of food out to him like a peace offering, he’d wanted to do the same—he _had_ done, before long. Once soulmates were revealed to each other they were damn difficult to keep apart. 

_How could this be happening?_

Nym slurped up the last of the thick noodles and wiped her mouth on the back of her wrist. Her strange violet eyes alighted on him, and the inappropriately-timed thought of how many kisses fit between them reared its head. “Yes, ‘just like that’, and no, I don’t. My family doesn’t live here. I was just passing through.” Her nose wrinkled playfully. “I’m what they call a wayfarer.”

Thatch leaned towards her with interest, though careful to keep his shins far out of her range. “Oh, so you’re just a traveler, then? You go where the wind takes you?”

Nym propped her chin on her fist, her elbow resting on the table. “Exactly. Sometimes I travel with folks, and sometimes I travel alone. Since me and Ace here just found out that we’re soulmates and I’m not doing anything else, it stands to reason that I might see where the wind takes us when it blows us in the same direction.”

Ace found that deeply amusing for some reason. A cheeky grin curled his lips. “A thirst for adventure and nothing holding you down to one location? You might as well be a pirate.”

Nym eyed him curiously. “Is that an official invitation?”

“Well, you did say you’re not doing anything else—”

Thatch’s head thunked onto the table, his fist smacking against it emphatically. “Oh good god,” he moaned. “Not again. Not more of this fucking soulmate flirting bullshit.”

Nym flushed a rather fetching cherry red—in Ace’s opinion—and then in the next moment Thatch swore and bent down to rub at his shins. “Fucking hell do you kick hard for such a small woman!”

Marco let loose a raucous bark of a laugh. “It’s what you deserve. Payback for all the times from before when you gave me and Ace shit.”

“Fuck you, man, you two were un-fucking-bearable,” Thatch insisted as he continued rubbing furiously and muttering curses. 

Nym looked between Ace and Marco with interest as two bowls of steaming udon were laid in front of her and Ace. “You two are already soulmates?” Ace watched as she connected the dots, then held still as she studied him. “So you have two soulmates, then, Ace.”

Ace found himself gifting her an easy smile, voice soft and almost drawling. “Apparently I can’t help myself. I have to find double the trouble wherever I go.”

Nym laughed, then sobered, clearly intrigued. “Does he have a second one as well?” 

“He’s right here,” Marco chimed in then, taking the opportunity to steal a bite from Ace himself, “And the answer is yes.”

She hummed. “Hmm. I wonder…”

“What?” Ace’s brows creased in concern, trying to picture what might be bothering her. 

She extended her opposite wrist in front of her on the table, baring a secondary, dormant soul-mark. “Is your other mark active or dormant?”

Wordlessly Marco slowly offered his other wrist as well, revealing another dormant mark. “You’re not thinking—?”

“One way to find out,” she murmured, pressing her wrist into his. Not being on either end of that match, Ace couldn’t feel the burn of activation, but he could observe as Nym’s mark appeared on Marco’s flesh the way it had on his own, mirrored against Marco’s Phoenix flashing into existence on her. 

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Thatch blurted, watching them with wide eyes. “Double mutual soulmates? A bonded _set_?”

Ace’s stomach twisted itself in knots. Outwardly he appeared smug, but inwardly the turmoil might suffocate him. How could he safely love his soulmates without hurting them? How could he be everything they needed without also being his father’s son? He felt, almost, a rising sense of panic, one that abated suddenly, and when he looked up from glaring into his udon he found Marco’s hand in his, and Nym’s on his wrist. As his soulmates they’d instinctually felt his distress and moved to comfort him.

“It looks like now I have two reasons to leave,” Nym shrugged, sounding upbeat. 

Marco chuckled, amused both by her demeanor and the expression evidently on Ace’s face. “Face it, Ace,” he teased him, “you’ll just have to get used to twice the love.”

“Twice the annoyance, you mean,” Thatch muttered, dodging the elbow aimed his way by Marco. 

Ace flipped off their blonde friend and dug into his new udon, unable to take his eyes off of Nym—or off of Marco, for that matter. Despite having eaten before she arrived, he still finished before her, sending his bowl away with coins to settle their tab. As soon as she finished eating and her bowl left the table as well, he stood, readjusting his hat. “Time to go. Do you have your things?” 

His friend and two soulmates got to their feet. Nym picked up a small pack he hadn’t noticed before and nodded resolutely. “Yep.” She’d looked short before when she slid in next to him and changed his life irrevocably, but now standing next to her with Marco he could observe how truly tiny she looked next to them. Despite her wide hips and not being particularly thin, she seemed almost delicate in her features, elf-like in some way. The name Nymphadora certainly suited her, even if she found it distasteful. 

“Let’s go then, babe.” 

Her reaction to the endearment was lost in the murmur of the crowd around them. Without conscious thought, Ace took her hand in his, twining their fingers together. When he looked over his shoulder as he led them toward the exit, he saw Marco holding her other hand, Thatch trailing behind them like a sulky duckling. He slipped outside with his ears pricked for danger. A good thing, as when they emerged onto the street they found the man from before lurking in the shadows nearby. 

He made as if to grab at Nym, the motion aborted halfway through as he realized she had company with her. Before he could change tactics properly, Ace decked him with his free hand, sending him sprawling onto his back and out cold. He lightly stepped over him, tugging the others along with him. He noticed with no small sense of satisfaction that Marco had stepped on the man’s nose when passing over him. 

“You’ll like the ship,” he told her conversationally as they walked through the streets hand in hand and abreast to Thatch. “It’s called the _Moby Dick._ ”

“Is it now? Your captain must have a fondness for old novels,” she remarked. She didn’t seem at all fazed by him laying out her would-be attacker. In fact, she had a definite spring in her step as they made their back to the ship. 

“Guess so,” Marco mused. “Pops has read a lot of books in his time.”

“Pops?” 

“Yeah, the Old Man,” Ace explained. “Whitebeard.” 

“He treats us all as his sons,” Thatch added. 

“Ah, I see.” Nym paused. “Does that mean—do you think—are there women onboard?”

The three men slowed, Ace and Marco sharing one of their loaded glances that had more than once earned them gentle ribbing from the crew. Marco sounded as uncertain as Ace felt. “A few. As a general rule he doesn’t typically allow women combatants, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any in the crew.”

Ace’s hand tightened on Nym’s, not willing to let her go for a second. “There’ve been exceptions. When he takes a crew under his command, he’ll usually give the old members a choice of joining him or starting over again. Banshee and Cornelia were some of my old crew that he allowed to stay.”

Thatch continued their reassurances. “And he’s accepted a few exceptionally gifted women into his forces for other roles—trackers, spies, messengers, healers…”

Nym seemed a bit upset. “So why does he have that rule, anyway?” 

The docks came into view, an array of ships of varying shapes and sizes moored up and down the row. 

“Probably to avoid conflict in the crew,” Thatch guessed. “To avoid fights over relationships. Or, ah, children on board.”

“Or to protect them,” Marco offered. “I wouldn’t fancy being a woman captured by an enemy crew or the marines.”

Nym made a disgusted noise. “Some of the crews allow rape?”

“Some—not all, and not ours,” he hurried to reassure her. “Not _any_ halfway decent crew, for that matter. Pirates don’t have many laws, but we’re strict about the ones we keep.”

“He’ll make an exception for you.” Ace’s voice wavered, his confidence not absolute even to his own ears. The way he said the words, it was clear he _wanted_ to believe them, but that even he couldn’t be sure. “He has to. You’re our soulmate.”

“And I’m useful.”

Ace and Marco shared another glance. “You don’t have to be useful, babe.” Ace squeezed her hand to offer what comfort he could muster. 

“But I am,” Nym insisted. “Marco’s right about my family, about our haki I mean. I’m a Swan, so I’ve trained to use it. Plus, I speak a few different languages. I could serve as a ship translator.”

Ace felt a small bloom of pride in his chest. He and Marco may not think she _had_ to be useful, and he knew his first soulmate agreed with him on that, but she bloody well _would be_. The translation abilities alone would make her an incredible asset, but with training in how to properly wield haki, it made her all the more valuable. If only the Old Man would see it that way. 

“And.” Her voice dropped to below a whisper, and Ace had to strain to hear her speak. “And I’ve eaten a Devil Fruit.”

_Well then_. 

The conversation cut short as the _Moby Dick_ came into view. Ace pointed out which ship it was to Nym as they approached. She let out an awed, breathy chuckle. “It’s huge.”

Firmly trying to steer his mind out of the gutter, he agreed. His hold on her hand tightened briefly before he disentangled their fingers so they could board. He turned to Nym and carefully tucked her long hair into the hood of her cloak, which he then drew until it shadowed her face. Less than five minutes later, they found themselves aboard. A few of the night sentries called out friendly greetings to their group as they passed. Ace, Marco, and Thatch returned them as politely as possible without stopping. They kept to the shadows until they reached the room Ace shared with Marco, then Thatch wished them luck and split off to turn in for the evening. They slipped inside with Marco shutting the door firmly behind them and latching it from the inside. 

“You can put your things on my desk for now.” Ace pointed toward the far corner as he unstrapped his dagger and laid it on his nightstand. He sleepily removed his hat and necklace, a little drowsy from his interrupted nap. 

Out tumbled Nym’s hair as she discarded her cloak, the night-black curls completely unruly. She draped it across the back of his chair and set her pack on top of his desk as suggested, shucked off her boots, then flopped onto their bed lazily, looking between the two of them expectantly. “So what’s the plan? I assume I can’t hide away inside of here forever.”

Marco finally moved from where he’d been hovering by the door to stand in front of Ace’s shelves of belongings and souvenirs. “No, that’s true. All the same, you should stay here until we can speak to Pops about this.”

“Right.” She sighed. “It’s going to be rather awkward if he says no to you two.”

“He won’t.” Ace swallowed thickly. “He can’t.”

“He _can_ ,” Marco disagreed, “but he probably won’t. There’s no real reason to.”

Ace sat on the edge of his bed with a sigh and leaned over to discard his boots as well. “It’s times like these I wish I was still captain of my own ship.”

“You don’t mean that.” Marco’s soft chastisement sounded slightly muffled, as he’d balanced against the wall and bent in half to get out of his sandals. 

Ace sighed. “No, I don’t.” He allowed himself to fall bonelessly back onto his bed, turning his head to look at Nym. “You should take the bed. Marco and I will sleep on the floor.”

Nym rolled onto her side to face him. “Why?”

Ace blinked at her, perplexed. “Because you don’t really know us well.”

“Fair, but I’m pretty sure I can take on both of you if I have to.” She reached out and hesitantly touched his hand. “Besides, I know you won’t hurt me. I can read both of you and you don’t have any…let’s say _nefarious_ plans. Besides, soulmates can’t harm each other. Doing that would hurt us all.”

Ah, yes. The fail-safe of being a bonded set, regardless of number. Injuries inflicted by one soulmate on the other would be mirrored on the offending party unless they were done in self-defense, and outright killing your soulmate would only end in one's own death. It did serve as a deterrent toward physically harming your match, though it also seemed rather inconvenient if your match were an evil prick you wanted to be rid of. Soulmates could also harmlessly share memories, emotions, and sensations with each other. Now _that_ particular soulmate ability had various applications, many of which didn’t bear thinking of with the inappropriateness of the moment. 

Ace couldn’t fight off the smirk that threatened to take over. His other soulmate had fire. “I don’t know that you can take both of us on at the same time, but you’re right, we can’t hurt you.” 

“But you might still want time to acclimate.” Marco dropped down on Ace’s other side to avoid boxing in Nym and making her feel trapped. “You went from having no soulmate to two in less than an hour and now you’ve agreed to skip town with us. It’s all a bit much for anyone I would think.”

Nym shrugged. “Maybe. If you were up for it we could always just talk and get to know each other a bit more, but I think you two want to rest.”

“No kidding.” Ace yawned then got back up, snagging one of his pillows on the way. “We’ll just take the floor. We’ll straighten out the details after a few hours of rest. We’re not set to leave port for another day or so, so we have plenty of time to get to the Old Man before we cast off again.”

Marco took another of the pillows and set up a makeshift bed next to Ace, pulling him close so that his soulmate’s warm back pressed into his chest. Nym gazed at them as they quickly fell asleep, their quiet breathing filling the room. Despite not knowing each other for long, the inexplicable tug she felt toward them didn’t fade. Soulmates often found themselves drawn to each other even before they touched and their marks activated, though not all met under such strange circumstances. Once their marks activated, an irrevocable link would form between them and there would be nothing and no one that would be able to keep them apart save their own efforts, as they would find a way to stay together. Separating them would be the height of cruelty. Soulmates felt an inborn desire to speak to each other, to touch and be touched by each other, to see and smell each other and be in relatively close proximity. They craved intimacy from each other, whether it be as simple as a kiss or running their fingers through their match’s hair. 

As much as her two soulmates _were_ strangers, as bizarre as their situation was and as much as she really did wish to know them more, she also felt a longing to join them where they cuddled on the floor, bury her hands in their soft hair and press her face into each of their necks. She fidgeted, trying to get comfortable and eventually falling into an uneasy sleep. 

Surely things would work out with their captain.

_Surely_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm fully aware that we aren't clear on what happens with Cornelia and Banshee, so I took liberties there with the wiggle room I had considering he did seem to adopt the entire crew of the Spade Pirates. That, and we have Whitey Bay to show that despite his rule, there were a few exceptions to the female combatants stance. I also took that statement at face value and assumed that many of the women who DID work for him did so under a different capacity. As for his reasons, it seems like folks can only speculate, so I added a few of my own. I've also, ah, put in a lot of ideas about Soulmates.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a small bit of hurt/comfort because Ace hates himself, a lot of kisses, and Whitebeard not being at all surprised by his sons.

_ As much as her two soulmates  _ **_were_ ** _ strangers, as bizarre as their situation was and as much as she really did wish to know them more, she also felt a longing to join them where they cuddled on the floor, bury her hands in their soft hair and press her face into each of their necks. She fidgeted, trying to get comfortable and eventually falling into an uneasy sleep.  _

_ Surely things would work out with their captain. _

__ **_Surely_ ** . 

…

Nym woke with a start, staring around blearily and unsure of what woke her until the knock came at the door again. Her eyes popped open then, and she found herself having flipped over onto her stomach during the night, head turned out toward the room and arm dangling over the edge of the bed, inches away from Ace’s chest. Somehow in the night he and Marco had shifted to be right next to the bed, and Nym had shifted to hanging half-on and half-off of it. Only a few inches separated them from each other. 

Ace and Marco had woken up as well, neither looking too worse for wear despite the no-doubt uncomfortable accommodations. The two men sat up at once, yawning and stretching. Marco put a finger to his lips to signal quiet as he got up and shuffled to the door. 

“What is it?” he called through the wood. 

A muffled reply came immediately. “Have you seen that extra barrel of rum?” 

“No, ask Thatch.”

“‘Ight then!”

Footsteps shuffled away from them. Nym waited several minutes to speak. “Is it close to morning?” The lack of light underneath the door was not promising. 

Ace ran a hand through his wavy black hair, several shades lighter than Nym’s pure ebony locs. “No idea. Too fucking early to be woken up, that’s for damn sure” 

Marco made a grumbling noise as he returned to Ace’s side. “Seconding that notion.”

Nym had had enough. “I know you two want to be gentlemen or what have you,” she started. “But watching you sleep on the floor is making  _ me _ ache. I could swear I have three new bruises just from looking at you. Come to bed? There’s enough room for all of us in this thing.”

It was true. Their bed was rather large and spacious, and for good reason. While most of their cremates shared a room with four others out of necessity for space, Marco and Ace shared a room of their own because they were bonded. They’d outfitted their room with a larger bed, since they didn’t have to worry about taking up too much space for their roommates. 

Reluctant though they were to intrude on her personal space, they finally gave in to her request. Nym crawled toward the far side of the bed near the wall and settled in there, finding it far easier to relax into the tentative embrace of Ace, who shuffled closer hesitantly and wrapped his arms around her, than she would if they hadn’t found out they were soulmates and activated their marks. Marco wrapped his arm around Ace’s waist, his hand ultimately resting on Nym’s side as well. After that, sleep came without any difficulty, and Nym woke up for the second time much later, this time a natural occurrence. A pale dove gray light seeped under the door, signaling dawn. 

As soon as Nym stirred, Ace and Marco began to wake, the former stretching with his eyes closed. “Is it dawn already?” 

Marco, meanwhile, lay staring up at the ceiling. “Seems like it.”

“Guess I better go talk to Pops, then. You coming?” 

“Yes. For all I know you’ll just try to kill him again and get tossed into the sea and drown.” 

For all that he said the words teasingly, Nym still gave them a strange look, leaning back against the wall and wondering just what sort of odd relationship they had with Whitebeard. “What the hell does that mean?”

Seeing her trying to make sense of it, Marco chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, just that Ace here tried to kill our captain about a hundred times his first week here.”

Ace scowled, the weight of the expression undermined by his bedhead. “Don’t start, Marco.”

Nym giggled. “Don’t take this personally, but you look like a grumpy puppy right now.” 

Marco laughed with her. “She’s right you know.”

“Both of my soulmates are assholes,” Ace muttered as he clambered from between them to get ready for the day. He cleaned his face and hands at the vanity and donned his usual accessories of hat, necklace, and dagger. 

Marco got up to ready himself as well. “I don’t know if she is, but you’re certainly an asshole—our asshole.”

Ace flipped him off without looking as he danced around to get into his shoes, a sort of flats this time. 

“Classy,” Marco teased.

Nym watched their easy interaction with longing, wanting to fit into the scene. “How long have you two had together, then?”

“About three months.” Ace raked his fingers through his hair in an attempt to look less like he’d just rolled out of bed. “You ready, Marco?”

“Keep your shirt on, I’m coming.” Marco grabbed his sandals. 

“We’ll be back soon,” Ace told her at the door. “You might want to latch this.”

Without another word, he slipped out into the weak pre-dawn light. Marco followed him with a wave toward where she sat on the bed. “Be back soon.”

The door closed behind them. Nym stared at it for several long moments before actually getting up to secure the latch. She turned a curious eye toward the shelves. At least she’d have a way to occupy herself for the time being. 

.

Marco stuck his head into the room. “Pops? You awake?”

Whitebeard leaned against the headboard of his bed, hooked up to various monitors, IVs and supportive devices. The team of nurses fluttered about him constantly, checking his vitals and making him comfortable. He had an enormous gourd of sake in one hand, and was in the middle of drinking. He lowered it and sighed contentedly. “Nothing like sake to hit the spot, eh, son?” 

When he saw Marco’s face pinched with worry, and Ace’s anxious one over his shoulder, he sat forward, immediately alert. “What’s troubling you two?” The carefree tone had been replaced by a no-nonsense one full of concern. 

Marco and Ace stepped fully into the room and came to stand by the end of the bed. 

“Out with it,” the old pirate urged them when neither immediately spoke. 

Marco cleared his throat, holding out both arms to the man he’d come to see as his father. “Pops… we found our soulmate.”

“You found your—” he peered at Marco’s wrists, eyeing the new soulmark critically. 

“Ace,” Marco urged. 

Ace extended his arms next to Marco’s. It was clear from their marks that not only did they match each other, they matched someone else who in all likelihood matched both of them. 

Ace looked him unflinchingly in the eye. “We want her to stay, Old Man.” 

Whitebeard sat back and took a generous pull of sake. “Oh, is that all?”

Ace stared at him in disbelief. “What do you mean ‘is that all’? We know how you feel about admitting women into the crew.” Marco laid a hand, both of comfort and warning, on his arm. 

Whitebeard motioned casually. “You came in here as if someone had died. Now I know I don’t have to worry. It’s just about a soulmate. Of course she can stay, though not as a combatant, of course. What kind of heartless bastard do you think I am? I’d never separate a bonded set, and I don’t want to cause harm to my sons.”

Ace and Marco exchanged a glance. Marco returned his attention to Whitebeard. “So we have your blessing to bring her onboard the ship?”

Whitebeard flashed his teeth at them, clearly amused about something. “Are you telling me you don’t have her here already?”

When they shifted awkwardly, he threw his head back and guffawed. “I know my sons,” he told them eventually, when he could calm himself. “She’s probably waiting for you in your room right now. You probably brought her back as soon as you met.”

Ace blushed a shade he didn’t know he was capable of becoming, while Marco wore his relief on his face. 

“Thanks, Pops. Come on, Ace, Nym’s waiting on us.”

Whitebeard hummed curiously. “Nym is it?” 

Ace ducked his head as he turned to follow Marco. “Yeah. It’s short for Nymphadora, but don’t tell her I told you. She hates her full name.”

“Well, give her my welcome.” A nurse moved in with water for him to drink, then, and as Ace and Marco left they could hear him arguing with her over the health benefits of a gallon of sake. 

Marco reached for Ace’s hand. “That went well.”

Ace’s shoulders were still slightly tensed. “Part of me was so worried he’d say no.”

“I know, and he could have, but, she’s here as our soulmate, not to audition to be a proper member of the crew.”

Ace glanced at Marco cautiously. “Is it usual for him to agree to something so easily?” Marco had travelled with Whitebeard for years and knew his nature far better than Ace. 

His soulmate mulled that over as they passed by a few early morning risers—and a few stragglers just getting back in at the crack of dawn—on their return trip. “Not necessarily. If his mind is set on something from the beginning, or once he’s made up his mind about something, he’s not one to delay.”

They made a pit stop at the kitchens for a few snacks and a small cask of ale to share, then carried the lot back to their room. “Nym? Nym, open up, it's me and Marco.”

There was a bit of shuffling inside, then the latch slid free and a single violet eye was visible peering at them through the gap between door and frame. “What did he say?” Nym pressed as she opened the door wide and stepped to the side. 

Ace set his cargo down on his desk. “He said you can stay.” 

“Really?” Nym fairly bounced on the balls of her feet. 

“Really,” Marco echoed, depositing his half of the haul next to Ace’s. 

She threw her arms around both of them, pulling them in for a hug. “That’s great news.”

Ace found himself blushing again and growing uncomfortably warm. “Yeah, it is,” he muttered lamely. He’d never felt shy before in his life—well, excluding his initial dancing around Marco when he had no idea how to react to a soulmate. “Listen, I don’t know how to say this, but if you’d like we can find somewhere else for you to sleep until you’re comfortable with—”

Nym grabbed each of their hands. “I  _ do  _ want to get to know you, but if someone doesn’t kiss me soon I think I might bloody well die.” 

Oh. Right.He’d already had Marco in his life for a few months and they rarely left each other’s sides, so the desire to touch him was less an incessant, raging inferno and more of a gentle hearth fire. Nym had been largely touch-starved of both of them since they met. A smirk bloomed on his face as he stood next to his two soulmates, inordinately pleased with himself. He knew logically that it was nothing he’d done, but still felt a sense of satisfaction. Soulmate bond aside, it felt rather nice to have someone wanting to kiss him that badly, and how could he deny her?

“I’d be happy to oblige.” He reached out to trace lightly over her lips with his thumb, then leaned in for the kiss. One of her hands delved into his hair, and before he knew it they were melting together. Kissing his soulmate—either of them—was bubbles and pop rocks in his veins, something bright that sparked without sparking. It was an exquisite burn of champagne and fireworks that ended far too quickly for his liking. Her mouth still tasted of sake, and all Ace wanted to do as they separated was to hold her close and listen to her heartbeat. 

From her dazed expression, she’d felt a similar sensation. Her hand rose shakily to her lips, which parted slightly in surprise. “So that’s what—that’s what it’s like. Kissing your soulmate, I mean. I’d heard about it, but I never thought it would be quite like that!” 

Ace’s smirk deepened. “There’s more where that came from, babe.”

“My turn,” Marco cut in then, swooping in for his own kiss. 

It was interesting to watch from the outside, to observe two soulmates meld and mesh, somehow fitting together oh-so-perfectly. As soon as their kiss ended Ace tugged Marco into his arms to steal his own kiss from him. Nym joined them, peppering kisses along Ace’s chest that would surely destroy him. He felt his skin heating up as his fire danced underneath it. Gasping, he had to break away from them. “Stop, stop.” He gently put a bit of distance between himself and Nym. 

Her fingers lightly touched his cheek. “What, what’s wrong?” 

Ace was nearly trembling. “If we want to pace ourselves then we need to stop now while we’re ahead.” 

Understanding lit her gaze. “How long did you two wait?” She bit her lip as she looked between them. Marco needed a moment to compose himself, his eyes smoldering. 

“A week.”

“An entire  _ week?” _

“Not for lack of wanting to.” Marco jabbed a thumb in Ace’s direction. “ _ This one  _ was too busy trying to kill Pops for most of that time. It was hard to get a word in edgewise.”

Nym burst out laughing, much to Ace’s chagrin. “You’d try to kill someone too if they flattened and disbanded your entire crew!”

“I’m sure.” She grinned at him, eyeing him from head to toe. 

As much as he already liked her, he found it unsettling how much she could make him blush. He thought that was something he’d outgrown after his and Marco’s first month and a half together.

Nym crossed her legs, drawing both of their eyes to her thighs. “Why do you want to wait so long anyway?” 

If he were honest with her, part of it was his own means of waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to realize that she didn’t need someone like  _ him _ as a soulmate and to leave. She wasn’t a pirate like he and Marco were, hadn’t dreamt of it like he and Luffy had. It wasn’t her life. That, and she probably hadn’t signed up for Gol D Roger’s hellspawn. He still didn’t feel as if he deserved the goodness Marco brought into his life, let alone what a second soulmate would do, and she seemed so much more delicate, somehow, more innocent. He didn’t want to be the point of her corruption, and he couldn’t ask her to become an outcast for him, for either of them, without some serious consideration first. They could always swing back into port and drop her off in a few days. No harm done. 

Ace felt Marco’s eyes on him and knew that his first soulmate had an inkling of the thoughts running through his mind and disapproved. He’d been trying so hard to burn through Ace’s self-loathing, but it was a gargantuan task for anyone, even a soulmate. “To make sure that this is what you want,” he eventually managed, his tone neutral. 

Nym rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his chest. “We’re soulmates, and I want you. Come what may, you’re stuck with me. It’s not as if I wasn’t already drifting from place to place before.”

Ace didn’t mean to speak so sharply. “But you weren’t considered a criminal, were you? An outcast? If you stay by our side—”

“Ace.” Marco’s gentle but firm voice brooked no argument. Ace reluctantly took his eyes off of Nym’s face to look into his. “I know what you’re trying to do. You did almost the same thing with me. Don’t push her away because you’re afraid to be happy.”

Ace scowled, caught out, and looked away from both of them. His jaw clenched. “I just wanted to make sure you both had an out. Just because we’re soulmates doesn’t mean we have to be together. You could always find something—someone—better.”

Marco yanked him into his arms, tilted his head up and rained kisses onto his face. “You’re our soulmate. You’re what’s better.”

He squirmed when he felt Nym’s arms wrap around them and her face press into the crook of his neck, his body at just the right level with Marco tilting him in his arms for kisses. “I don’t know what your deal is yet, Ace, but just shut the hell up and accept that you’re not meant to be alone.”

Ace wanted to argue his point more, but half of his heart and mind weren’t in it with both soulmates touching him. They were piercing through his resolve with every kiss. 

Marco smiled as he delivered a final kiss to Ace’s chin. “I like her already.”

Ace couldn’t form another frown after the barrage of affection. He grumbled half-heartedly but relaxed. Nym’s breath tickled his ear as she spoke. “I like both of you already, too.” She littered a trail of kisses from behind his ear to his collarbone. If not for her and Marco holding him up, he felt as if he might have melted down like a wax candle. 

“Well.” Ace found it in himself to smile. “That might just be the biggest mistake of your life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll make any smut a separate chapter on its own so those who came here just for the fluffy idiocy don't have to deal with it. I'll leave the warning in the summary or beginning notes.
> 
> A/N Addendum: I want to apologize to anyone reading literally ANY of my other stories. I’m gonna start posting some of the stories I’ve kept in the wings because I do a lot of writing in the shadows that none of y’all see lol. I’ll just switch back and forth between projects. That seems to keep me writing continuously while also allowing some stories to lay fallow until it’s their turn so I don’t just hit stumbling blocks and not write at all. I literally have stories that have 30-60k pre-written for them that I just haven’t published yet. So it may seem like I’ve been dormant but really I’ve just been working on different projects behind the scenes. None of my stories are abandoned, just rotated so that some are on the back burner at any given time. So you’ll see me be a lot more active, but the story I’m updating will vary. I will, however, always be updating something so if you’re into multiple fandoms and you enjoy my work, feel free to stock up on all of them. 😂 They’ll all get attention.


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